Chapter 20: Sun, Surf, and Sam

Sam is on vacation at the beach where she meets Reggie and his friends. In the Zootopia Plus series, we are introduced to a river otter named Sam, who works as a waitress at the Rainforest Riviera.

For this chapter, let's listen to Barry Gibb's classic ballad "Morning of my Life" sung by the late Sir John Holt

It was the beginning of another beautiful, sunny day on the coast of Zootopia. The river otter smiled to herself after she set down the beach bag that she held in her paws and looked out toward the brightening horizon appearing over the dark blue ocean waters. Suddenly, a stiff breeze gusted in from offshore. Before she could react, her wide-brimmed straw hat blew off her head and began to roll across the beach. Running after the errant hat, she tripped, and her glasses fell off into the sand. Desperately, she knelt down and reached for the glasses, putting them back on her nose. After standing and wiping the sand from her legs, she looked up and was surprised to see a handsome meerkat approaching her while holding her straw hat towards her. He was wearing a sleeveless black colored wetsuit and although he was at least half a foot or more shorter than she was, she couldn't help but admire his body. He wasn't thin but had a lean, muscular physique similar to that of a dancer or swimmer.

"You lost your hat," he said. The sound of his voice startled her, as she hadn't realized that she was just standing there staring at his body, for the tight neoprene suit left little to the imagination. Blushing, she quickly looked up into his sparkling brown eyes and at his slightly mischievous smile. "Your hat," he repeated, his voice sounding pleasant.

Tentatively, she reached over and took the hat from his paw. "Thank you, I was afraid it had blown away," she said. After she put it back on, another burst of wind caught the edge and once again lifted it off her head. She lunged forward to grab it but stumbled in the sand and fell against the meerkat. His surprisingly strong arms steadied her, and she blushed when she realized that her paws were on his chest.

"I've got you," he chuckled. "And I also caught your hat."

"Huh?"

"Your hat. I caught your hat," he repeated. The otter was still in his arms with her paws on his chest.

She gave a surprised gasp before she stepped back. "Sorry, ah...I tripped," she frantically apologized.

The surfer smiled at the bespectacled otter standing in front of him and suggested, "Why don't you tie it on with your scarf?" Although she wasn't conventionally sexy like most of the girls he was attracted to, she was very cute in an innocently wholesome manner. He grinned when she shyly smiled back at him while taking her flowery polyester scarf and looping it over the top of her straw hat, then tying it down. The scarf's red and yellow flowery print matched the yellow one-piece swimsuit she was wearing.

"That should do it!" she exclaimed.

"So, are you on vacation?" he asked.

"Yes," she replied a little too quickly and a little too loudly. "I mean, yes. The restaurant where I work is being remodeled for a couple of weeks."

"Did you come down to see the sunrise?"

"Huh? Yes, I meant yes!" Sam blushed again when she realized that she was sounding like a teenage girl who had just discovered boys for the first time.

"I hope you are enjoying your stay," the meerkat replied and with yet another smile, he turned.

Her mind raced, trying to figure out what to say next. "I wasn't expecting to see anyone else on the beach this early in the morning," she blurted out as he began to walk away.

"We're the dawn patrol," he laughed while he turned around to once again face her.

"Dawn patrol?"

"We're surfers. High tide is coming in and this is the best time to catch a wave before it gets crowded."

"That's nice," was all she could think of saying, and she tried not to grimace because that sounded really lame.

"Do you surf?" he asked.

She looked down the beach and saw a fennec fox and a rock-wallaby in wetsuits, kneeling down and rubbing something on their surfboards. "No, this is actually the first time I've been to the ocean since I was little. My family came here a few times, but being river otters, we preferred to vacation in the Green Mountains."

"Ah, the mountains where there is no salt, no surf, and no sharks!" the meerkat laughed.

"Funny," she giggled.

"I can't take credit for it. I once saw that on a tee shirt advertising Lake Woebegone. By the way my name is Reggie," he said as he extended his paw toward her.

"Sam...I mean Samantha, but everyone calls me Sam," she replied while shaking his paw. He had a firm grip.

"Are you interested in surfing, Sam?" he asked

"Well, it does look like fun," she shyly answered.

"Come on over, and I can show you what we do!" she listened intently while he explained about surfing, and then she sat on the sand, watching him paddle out into the surf. Enthusiastically, she clapped when he caught a wave. The fennec fox was Stone Kole, whom she recognized from the promos for a movie called "Beach SpyJinks". Reggie told her that he, Stone, and the wallaby named Cooper, all had short roles in the movie.

Sam was surprised when she realized that the morning had gone by so fast, seeming like a blur, while she spent time with the surfers. With disappointment, she watched while the boys finally began to pack up their boards and belongings. "No more surfing?" she asked.

Reggie shook his head before answering, "the waves have played out for the morning, so we are heading back to camp."

"Oh..." she didn't realize that she sounded disappointed. A few minutes later she too packed up her beach towel and other belongings while watching the surfers leaving.

Suddenly the meerkat turned and raced back toward her. "Hey, we are planning play a few rounds of mini golf at the Goofy Gull Golf Course tonight, do you want to join us?" he asked.

"Sure, I'd love to."

"We'll swing by your hotel at seven. Where are you staying?"

Sam began to answer but she hesitated, after all she was all by herself and really didn't know these surfers. "Why don't I just meet you there?" she instead offered.

"That's great, we can meet at the entrance."

Minutes later she trudged back to the hotel and as she was passing through the lobby, a pretty sand cat behind the reception desk smiled at her and asked, "How was the beach?"

"It was fun," Sam answered with a grin. "I ran into some cute surfers, maybe you know them? A meerkat named Reggie, along with a fennec fox and a small wallaby."

"Stoney is my boyfriend," the cat laughed.

"Oh, really?" the otter was relieved that someone else knew the surfers. "I'm supposed to meet them tonight at the mini golf course."

"Me too! My name is Karen, would you like to walk over together?"

"Sure, my name is Samantha but everyone calls me Sam."

Once back in her room, Sam's mind whirled as she paced back and forth, trying to figure out which outfit to wear. Back home, she didn't have much of a social life and spent most of her time either working or watching old movies. Prior to going on vacation, she had purchased a few new clothes for her beach vacation, including the yellow swimsuit which was now drying over the balcony railing. She laid out a pretty light blue chambray sundress. Pulling it on she stared at herself in the mirror and frowned for the hem was rather daring, cut above her knees, but it did make her feel sexy when she twirled. Fretting, she hung it back in the closet and decided to go have lunch at a small restaurant that was nearby.

That afternoon, with great trepidation, and after trying on every stitch of clothing she owned, Sam finally went back to the sundress. With growing excitement she took the elevator down the the lobby and saw that Karen was waiting for her. The sand cat was still dressed in her white work blouse and blue slacks, she smiled at her and waved. "That is one nice dress!" she said when Sam approached. "Now I wish I had gone home to change but we don't have time."

When they arrived at the golf course, Sam saw the fennec fox sitting at a picnic table. He was wearing a teal sleeveless shirt and a pair of cut-off jeans. Two small wallabies were with him. She recognized Cooper, who was dressed in a nice blue and pink checkered short-sleeve shirt and tan cargo shorts. The other wallaby, who she would later learn was Cooper's boyfriend, Billy, wore a white and red striped shirt, which she realized was a Carnival worker's uniform, along with black pants. She frowned in disappointment because Reggie wasn't there. "Wow!" a familiar voice exclaimed from behind her and she quickly turned to see the meerkat walking across the parking lot. He was dressed in a red polo shirt and gray knee-length shorts. "You look very, very pretty," he added as he stood there and grinned. She couldn't help smiling back at him.

The miniature golf game was fun and made even better by the company of her new friends. Sam wasn't the best at the game, but Reggie was encouraging and had a wickedly funny sense of humor. Finally, after the game was over, she followed him across the busy street to the Boardwalk where they strolled together and just talked for hours. It was close to midnight by the time he escorted her back to the hotel and said goodnight. Returning to her room, she gave a long happy sigh before she carefully hung up her dress and put on her pajamas.

The next morning, she rushed back to the beach before sunrise. Reggie was already there with Stone and Cooper, and he ran over to greet her. This time he had brought a boogie board and after a few lessons, she too was riding the surf. When the morning surf played out, the meerkat stayed behind, while the other surfers packed up, and the two of them enthusiastically built sandcastles as if they were overgrown children. Later that night, she met Reggie and the others at the Carnival.

For the next few days, her life had the same wonderful pattern of boogie boarding, sandcastles, and spending the evenings with the surfers. Finally one night when she and Reggie were walking on the beach under the moonlight, he climbed up on a old worn down wooden pier piling so that they were roughly a similar height, took her in his arms, and passionately kissed her. When they got to the hotel, she hesitated after Reggie kissed her yet again and wished her goodnight. "Wait!" she said as she grabbed his paw. "Do you want to go up to my room for a nightcap?"

"This hotel doesn't have minibars in the rooms," he chuckled.

"No, but it does have a coffee maker," she quickly replied. "Oh and it makes tea too."

"I'd love a cup of tea," he huskily replied as he followed her to the elevator.

The meerkat never got his tea that night but she made him a cup of coffee in the morning.

Stone and Cooper had already paddled out and were waiting for a wave by the time Reggie and Sam showed up.

"Not exactly dressed for surfing, mate!" Cooper laughed as he waded ashore after catching a wave.

"Yeah, I'd swear that is the same exact clothes you wore last night. Maybe you should do your laundry more often?" Stone teased with a grin.

Sam blushed while she stood there clutching Reggie's paw.

After that, it was the same whirlwind romantic adventure of frolicking in the surf during the day, hanging out with her new friends during the evenings, and spending passionate nights with Reggie. However, as much as the two lovers wished, time inevitably moved on, and sadly, her vacation came to a bittersweet end.

It was now over twenty years later, and Sam sat slumped on a bench overlooking the sandy shore and the ocean beyond while she fondly remembered the young surfer and their brief summer fling. Although they tried to keep in touch, she and Reggie finally grew apart. Leaning back, she sighed and smiled as she watched some surfers on the waves and reminisced. Since Reggie, she had a few other boyfriends and now a happy marriage with an otter she deeply loved. Occasionally, she saw news stories about Reggie winning surfing competitions or watching him acting as a surfing beach bum in several of Rip Rock's "BeachSpy Jinks" series of comedy movies. As she sat there, lost in her thoughts, she was suddenly startled by someone yelling "Hey, Stoney!" Sam turned to see a familiar-looking fennec fox waving to a souvenir shop owner on the Boardwalk.

She hesitated about going over to talk to him while she wondered if the fox would remember her. "Mommy, can you come with me on the roller coaster?" her daughter interrupted her thoughts. "Daddy doesn't want to and told me to ask you." With a smile, Sam stood up and took her daughter's hand as they walked toward the ride.